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tv   Andrea Mitchell Reports  MSNBC  January 16, 2013 10:00am-11:00am PST

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this is our first task as a society, keeping our children safe. this is how we will be judged. >> right now on "andrea mitchell reports," a month and two days after the newtown massacre, president obama proposes sweeping new measures to control gun violence.
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>> ask them what's more important, doing whatever it takes to get a "a" grade from the gun lobby that funds their campaigns, or giving parents some peace of mind when they drop their child off for first grade? >> over the line, the nra web video targeting the president's daughters. >> are the president's kids more important than yours? then why is he skeptical about putting armed security in our schools when his kids are protected by armed guards at their school? >> what's wrong with these people? you have children that had no say in the decision on whether their father is going to step forward to be president of the united states, what the nra once was, it no longer is. this extremism is so frightening. >> msnbc's joe scarborough will be with me in a few moments to say more about the nra tactics,
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as well as his thoughts on the future of the republican party. and the gun fighters, inside "time" magazine's special report on gun control with managing editor rick stangle. president morsi over his anti antisemetic tirade. and candid clinton. how healthy is hilary? >> she's always been very, very healthy. i tell her, you know, she's still got hind to have three more husbands after me. >> bill clinton with dr. nancy snyderman. good day, i'm andrea mitchell live in washington, where president obama is trying to mobilize the nation, all of us, to deal with gun violence. >> from the letter that julia wrote me, she said, i know that laws have to be passed by congress, but i beg you to try
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very hardly. julia, i will try very hard. >> and joining me now for our daily fix, chuck todd, nbc news chief white house correspondent and host of "the daily rundown" and host malia henderson. thank you very much, both of you. chuck, the atmosphere there at the white house as the president unveils this and the fact that he brought in families from newtown and children who had written to him, what is the white house hoping to gain as it takes on, probably, the biggest political fight of this second term? >> look, this wasn't a simple policy rollout, this was the launch of an emotional campaign, this was an emotional president, and he was using any possible tool he could have in order to try to launch a campaign, because the reality -- they know the reality of the big three proposals he put out there. they have to somehow get through
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congress, and we know all of them are going to be difficult. the assault weapons ban maybe the most difficult and a bridge too far, but even to improve the background checks system, the magazine clip, what i found -- what struck me, they almost have to tap into a motion, tap into frustration, to anger in the public and use that, because he spent more time, i think, making an emotional case for his proposals than he did talking about the individual proposals themselves. >> nia malika, what about what the nra did in that web video? jay carney has spoken about it, the white house is angry. >> the white house is angry, and in some ways the nra is trying to do what the white house is doing, tap into emotions, swell their voter roles, this is an ad that won't see the light of day in terms of television. will certainly get a good run on the web and sort of on television in that way as sort of a web ad, but i don't think
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they are putting any big money into this, but i think what it does is if you're an nra member, if you're afraid your guns are going to be taken away, this will probably stir up some emotion, move you to act, maybe donate to the nra, join the nra. so they are doing what the nra always has done, and that is drawing a very hard and firm line in the sand, very black and white terms. no shades of gray here and no budging on what they fundamentally believe is a threat to the second -- their second amendment rights. and they are, of course, going to be on the hill lobbying democrats, lobbying republicans. so far, you haven't seen any republicans break ranks with the nra. and we'll have to keep an eye on senate democrats. >> and, in fact, marco rubio, chuck, has put out a statement saying that nothing the president is proposing would have stopped the massacre at
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sandy hook. president obama is targeting the rights of law-abiding citizens instead of what caused the violence. that is a very strong response from someone who's talked about as a 2016 potential candidate. >> and he also accused the president of abusing his executive power in the 23 actions. when you read the 23 actions, frankly, these are very weak directives. there's not much more the white house could do. they've got a whole bunch of things out there, but to call it an overreach is a big, big stretch there. but you're right, andrea, that's presidential politics. the most important responses, though, on this front have come from the two people in charge of putting legislation on the floor of the house and the senate. and speaker boehner's spokesperson said we'll be happy to look at any proposals that pass the senate. well, what did harry reid say last weekend about voting on any bills having to do with gun legislation? they are not going to vote on anything unless they know it can
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pass the house. here we are, stalemate. >> exactly. >> back to you, no, over to you. neither one of them -- and this is what makes the nra's bizarre decision that they did today, the risk -- right now, harry re reid's the best friend they've got, and if they figure out a way to alienate senate democrats who have carried their water before with the stunt they pulled today with this bizarre web ad, they are going to live to regret it long term. >> one other thing about the nra, wayne lapierre said in part, barack obama, joe biden and their gun ban allies want to bully you, strip you of your second amendment freedoms. i warned you that day is coming, now it's here. then a call for greater membership, which is exactly what's happening. nia malika, the battle is now joined, not a battle either side
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wanted to engage in during the presidential campaign. we just went through a two-year campaign, where except for one question in one debate, there was no talk about gun violence or any kind of legislation on guns. >> that's right. because for years we have seen republicans and democrats who were afraid of the nra. that changed on that awful day in sandy hook when 26 people were slaughtered, and so we'll have to see going forward if anything else changes in terms of legislation. >> thank you, both, nia malika henderson from "the washington post" and chuck that todd. joining me now, joe scarborough, host of msnbc's "morning joe." in looking what the president has done and the nra did to tee it up, where are the sides and what do you think of that web video? >> well, the sides right now are circling each other, trying to figure out who has the advantage. of course, the president, joe
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biden, who put a lot of these policy recommendations together, the white house team understands that they are facing an uphill battle on the hill when you're talking about banning assault weapons, but they understand something else. that is not only did newtown change everything, but wayne lapierre's reaction to newtown changed everything. the nra's extreme response to newtown changed everything. the nra is separating themselves from the overwhelming majority of their members, who actually support a lot of common sense measures that the president's talking about passing, that joe biden's talking about passing. so you look at the fact, andrea, that right after newtown, the majority of americans still opposed banning certain assault weapons, now according to polls out this week, that's a 60/40 issue, americans supporting banning assault weapons. background checks, those numbers have shot up to 85% of americans
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supporting a comprehensive background checks. you even look at national registration to track gun sales, that's at 65%, 68%, that's never been above 50%. high-capacity magazines also, that's now a 70/30 issue. it seems the more that the nra speaks out after the slaughter of these 20 first graders, the worst they make it for their side. and, of course, their approval rating's upsidedown if you look at the latest abc news/washington post poll. things are moving very quickly on the ground, and, in fact, the white house has to look at the situation and think that, you know, certain policy issues that they were going for a few weeks ago that seemed out of reach now seem possible. in fact, anything seems possible right now, because of the leadership's -- nra leadership's
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bizarre choices over the past several weeks. >> you have a blog on politico. let me just share with our viewers who may not have seen. i don't know who wouldn't have seen you on "morning joe" today, but the rest of us watch, millions and millions. you wrote, as a long-time supporter of the second amendment, i hoped their executives, the nra and lobbyists would not take an absolutist position on the issue, unfortunately, mr. lapierre chose to respond as if it was 1994. it's hard to imagine how the nra's worst enemy could have done more damage to the organization than the out of touch leader did himself. the nra need to self correct before they do more damage to their cause. discuss. >> the republican party over the past year has been inside an echo chamber. they've gone to the websites they've wanted to go to that made them feel better about mitt romney's candidacy, they went to the talk radio shows that made them believe romney was going to win. same thing with television shows
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that reenforced all of their preexisting prejudices. and taken together, they actually believed on election day, election night into the evening, that mitt romney was going to win. and anybody that had a counterveiling opinion, well, was either a leftist or if you're a republican actually telling the truth, you're a rhino. in the end, we were correct, that they were disconnected from the political reality of middle america. the same thing is happening again here where you've got members in the house of representatives, some democrats, some republicans, looking at this through a very old lens. they need to get new political glasses. newtown changed everything. 20 first grade children being lined up and gunned down and killed the way they were killed changed everything. the republican party and some conservative democrats haven't responded in a meaningful way since then. and so republicans really have a
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choice in the house of representatives. this may shock some of them, but roll the tape two years from now. they can either pass a comprehensive gun control package right now and shape it under speaker boehner, or they can wait two years when they lose the majority and have nancy pelosi write that bill. there are no other choices. these numbers are changing, just like the demographics are changing. you know, mitt romney got the same percentage of white voters that george h.w. bush got in 1988. george h.w. bush won a landslide over michael dukakis. we know what happened to mitt romney. the same thing's happening now. the political ground is moving under their feet, and right now, sadly, neither they, nor the nra, is doing what it takes to make sure they adapt to changing times. and if they don't do it pretty y quickly, there's going to be changes for both organizations.
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>> more broadly among house republicans, you wrote in their response to colin powell, you in 1996 did not think he was the right choice to be the nominee, but you said the republican party of 2013 bears little resemblance to the party of ronald reagan that would have responded to powell's concerns with an all hands on deck effort to win the war back. it's big enough to win back the white house in 2016. and that's, to the point, we have a more and more bifurcated congress, not the congress you served in. there were 49 votes, only 49 votes for sandy relief last night. that says a lot. there were more than 49 votes for gulf damage and repair after katrina. >> colin powell is a moderate, but i'll tell you what, i understand why ronald reagan reached out to colin powell and saw him as a future leader of
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the republican party when he let him run the joint chiefs. we need moderate republicans like colin powell on our side. we've run him off. we've run a lot of other moderate republican voters off, and if you want to win 49 states again like ronald reagan won in 1984, if we want to win the landslides that george h.w. bush won, we're going to have to have a much bigger tent, and we can't be the party of todd aiken or richard murdoch or sharon ankle or christine o'donnell. republican extremism in the republican process has allowed harry reid to remain majority leader of the u.s. senate. forget about being the conservative party or moderate party as nicolle wallace says, we've got to quit being the stupid party and do what william f. buckley told us to do 30, 40 years ago, that is play to win. you know, find the middle of the electorate and be conservative, but understand what the reality
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is in the middle of that electorate. and find the most conservative candidate that can win. we haven't done that for a very long time, and i can tell you this, we need to start doing this again right now. another great example, chuck hagel, republicans are against him, a republican. you look at the latest polls that have come out on hagel, americans support him by a 2 to 1 margin. with polls that just came out. it's one more example of how this party is taking such a narrow extreme view on so many issues that we can't see the forest for the trees. we can't make the arguments we need to make, which is that we need to balance the budget, that our government needs to be 19% of gdp, that we've got to fight to cut taxes, that we've got to fight to cut corporate tax rates, we've got to inform entitlements, we've got to do these things i think conservatives are best suited to do, instead of being engaged on
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fights on the periphery. we've got to narrow our focus and get back to first principles, and if we don't do that, the republican party's going to be in the minority for a very long time. >> joe scarborough from "morning joe," i like "afternoon joe" too. thank you very much. >> i like your time slot a lot better than ours, actually. 1:00's okay. >> try it some time, sleep in a bit. >> i'd like to. coming up next, the gun lobby reacts to the president's proposals and that nra ad. plus, biden, bloomberg, and gabby giffords. there's a trio inside "time's" special edition on gun control. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. i'm up next, but now i'm singing the heartburn blues. hold on, prilosec isn't for fast relief. cue up alka-seltzer. it stops heartburn fast. ♪ oh what a relief it is! maybe you want to incorporate a business. or protect your family with a will or living trust. and you'd like the help of an attorney.
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this will be difficult. there will be pundits and
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politicians and special interest lobbyists publicly warning of a tyrannical all-out assault on liberty. not because that's true, but because they want to ginn up fear. >> president obama ready to wage a political battle for his gun proposals against the gun lobby. joining me now, eric pratt. mr. pratt, thank you very much for being with us. >> thank you for having me. >> your response to the president and his proposals, are there things that he proposed that you could support, perhaps tightening the rules on background checks? >> well, we don't think any of the things he's proposing would have stopped what happened in connecticut, wouldn't have stopped adam lanza from killing a victim and stealing those firearms to commit such an atrocity. if there is an area of agreement we have with the president, he quoted from the declaration of independence telling all men are endowed by their creator for
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inalienable rights. that's an interesting concept, whether it's the right to vote, right to sit behind a microphone or the right to choose how i'm going to protect myself, all those rights cannot be infringed. >> they can, because the first amendment is infringed, i have to obey all sorts of regulations from the fcc, there are things we can't say in a crowded theater, so every right also carries with it responsibilities and obligations. >> what's interesting about that is we don't gag people before they go into the theater, we punish the lawbreakers. punish those who abuse the right, but don't gag law-abiding citizens before they exercise their right. we shouldn't be registering them like sex offenders like they are in new york. we shouldn't be in any way impeding them if they have not committed a crime. >> is there nothing in this conversation that the president has engaged in that you think is a valuable step? perhaps regarding some of the infringements on privacy many would argue are entailed in the
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mental health requirements in the new new york state law. >> sadly, what i think is missing is what would help. that's what 85% of the american people support is having an armed teacher or principal to be able to stop a school shooting. even gallup looked at this last month and said more americans favored that approach than gun restrictions. i think there's a big misreading of the political wings, and just like in 1994 with the congress, in 2000 with the presidency, i think there should be a real wake-up call politically, a real backlash happening here. >> i've talked to gun owners, gun supporters, people like tom ridge, former elected officials, former in the cabinet, and they argue that the assault weapons have no -- that there's no reason for these weapons and these magazines. you can't hunt with them, they could be controlled in target
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practice, but there's no reason for them to be sold. >> well, first of all, we have a bill of rights, not a bill of needs. i think gun owners react to being told what they need or don't need. i think we should define what we're talking about, these are not machine guns. these are not owned by any military on the earth. these are semiautomatic in nature, which means you pull the trigger once, one bullet comes out the barrel. these are commonly owned by billions of american citizens, and i think that's what's so offensive, now they are going to be told, like in new york, they are going to have to register guns they've lawfully owned for years. you know -- >> what's the problem with registering a gun? if you have a bushmaster, first of all, why would you have one? he advocated for it. >> in his later years. we have to keep that in account. >> in his later years he was almost killed by john hinckley. >> all through his presidency he opposed gun control. that's my point.
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senator j. rockefeller on the other side of the aisle owns an ar-15. we talked to many legislators which own those type of firearms. that's the very point. these are guns which are commonly owned. men and women would want to use these types of firearms to protect their homes. they have much less fire power than your average deer rifle. >> i want to challenge also your polling data, because the pugh poll said 57% of americans, a clear majority, oppose having armed guards in schools. >> this was gallup from last month. you can check that out. >> depends how the question is asked. >> yes, it does. pugh has been well known for that. gallup calls it straight. what do you think is the most important problem facing the country, this was an open ended question at the top, economy in general at 21%, goes down to the federal budget deficit, dissatisfaction with government, unemployment, taxes, all the way at the bottom is gun. >> the web video which targets basically the president's
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children, who have secret service protection, as all children of presidents. over the line? >> based on this poll, he should have been apologizing for those children to breaking their piggy banks to pay for the national debt. that's what americans are concerned about. >> i'm asking you about the web video. >> because his children -- >> which children? >> children he had there on display, because his children, his own children, are well protected. joe biden opened up by saying that schools should be a sanctuary. well, he must have this confused, because the president's girls do go to a sanctuary, well-armed there, but most american kids are not protected at all. >> you don't think the president's children should be off limits? >> i think she should be protected and i think our children should be. i have seven school-aged children. i would hope and pray there would be a teacher like a joel mirich who in pearl, mississippi, stopped a shooting in its tracks. that's how you stop it, not
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cowering in fear waiting 10, 15, 20 minutes. >> the question occurs, is it over the line for the nra to put up a web video addressing the issue of the president's children having secret service protection? >> why is it over the line for the nra to talk about children but not over the line for the president to bring in children? that's the disconnect. >> because the parents who are with those children in the white house complex today brought their children, their children wrote to the president, and they were voluntarily becoming part of this political debate. children of presidents have been off limits for decades. >> unless they are, i suppose, republican children of presidents. there's a big double standard. >> jenna and barbara bush and other children have not been -- >> let's talk about the bush children. they were hounded. their two girls, they sure were. let's talk about the double standard. >> in a political ad from a lobbying group, sir? >> the double standard is in the 15-block area of capitol hill, there's 1,800 capitol hill
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officers to protect them. how many armed adults are protecting our children right now at their schools? it is not a sanctuary, and that's the magnet that is attracting criminals. that's why when you see the mass shootings over the last 20 years with the exception of one, they all occurred in gun-free zones. that's because these guys don't want to shoot up a police station or a gun store or a gun show where guns are going to be pointed back at them. they want to be the only one with a gun. >> we have to leave it there. thank you very much for coming in. >> thanks so much. next, the gun fighters. "time's" managing editor rick stangle joining us on "andrea mitchell reports." stay with us. time for the "your business" entrepreneur of the week. kathleen had a successful bakery business in the hamptons, but a partnership that went sour resulted in her losing it. left with a store front and recipe, she now makes more than
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giffords. richard stengel is "time's" managing editor. tell me, do you think they can change the conversation and actually get something done, or is this going to be sort of blowing in the wind? >> i think newtown, andrea, really did change the conversation. it was so heinous, so disruptive, so disturbing that people have started to look at gun control, gun regulation in a different way. i think the administration, i think the three gun fighters on our cover believe that they can now marshal the great middle of america, even the majority of legal gun owners in america for common sense regulation, for closing the gun show loophole, for having better background checks and all of that sort of thing. i think this is the moment, and i think they will get something done. >> at the same time, in pennsylvania, which is a big
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gun-supporting state, we've got a big gun show in february, the annual gun show, the people who manage that gun show are not going to display assault weapons. all sort of people have come out against that, gun supporters, big debate going on in the keystone state. and you also have some real questions being asked by the mental health community about the new york state law. leading physicians saying how do you diagnose people accurately when this law in new york state says anyone who would injure him or himself or another person should be reported. how do you define that? doesn't this create a lot of am big u ambiguity? >> it does. red states have been decreasing regulation, blue states, like new york, have been increasing regulation. in states where there are a high
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percentage of gun owners, they have been looking to reduce the law and not pass anything that would regulation the possession of firearms, so the country's going in different directions that way. when it comes to the issue of mental health, i believe that is true. there are definitely privacy issues, and it's not an easy thing to make any kind of decision about whether somebody's mental state would actually lead them to go shoot up a school or kill their partner, anything like that. i think those are tough issues and it's not as easy as some people say it's going to be, because it will infringe on privacy. so i think there's interesting ways to reckon with that, and i think the president in his press conference today actually talked about doing more research on these kind of things, which is definitely needed. >> and research, which there is, in fact, research on gun use that the nra and other lobbyists have blocked for decades. thank you very much, rick stengel. fascinating cover story, mike bloomberg, gabby giffords, and
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knowing can make all the difference in the world. egypt's president, mohamed morsi is under fire for saying zionists are the descendents of apes and pigs. morsi also urged egyptians to, quote, nurse our children and grandchildren on hatred, hatred against jews. senator kunz joins us from cairo. what did he say when this issue was raised to him? what was his response, senator? >> andrea, this was an important meeting for us today to meet with the prime minister, the defense minister, opposition leaders, business leaders and, finally, with president morsi, and all of us pressed our concern, our offense at the things he's alleged to have said
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a number of years ago. and he responded that he is not someone who harbors hatred or ill feeling towards judism or the jewish people, but the burden is on him to further explain and put in context not just his statements, but also his actions. egypt is a vital partner for the united states, we also discussed critical strategic issues, such as security in the sinai respect for the camp david peace accords with israel and the constructive role that we hope egypt can play in the region going forward, but, obviously, his statements and our grave concerns about them were at the outset of the meeting. the responses were satisfactory enough that we then went on to talk about some of the other vital regional strategic issues. >> now, the white house and the state department have both condemned what he said, so from my own experience, they would not have condemned what the president of egypt said if he had not, in fact, said it, if there were some -- if there
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weren't some factual base to this. going forward, is this just that he has a different job now, a different role to play and you think that he can be inclusive and is willing to certainly live up to the peace treaty with israel and be the responsible player that the white house hopes he can be? >> i'm hopeful, but frankly we're going to watch very closely his actions, as well as his words. you're right that there is a difference between what folks say before their election and then now that he is in the important role of president of the republic of egypt, but it did raise some very grave concerns, and i think it's important that we continue to express our values and to make it clear that we expect our allies to both publicly and privately act in ways that are respectful of the values that the united states stands for. >> i want to ask you also, i don't know if you've been able to check this out from cairo, but the white house has confirmed there are some americans, among 41 hostages that have now been taken at bp
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in algeria. during an attack from mali insurgents. do you know anything more about it? >> yes, andrea, the trip that i'm on, we were actually supposed to go to mali initially but were diverted because of the degenerating security situation there. the hostages that have been taken in eastern algeria are a step that was threatened by the al qaeda, the islamist extremists who were making the security situation in mali so intenable that the french felt compelled to take military action. i support the administration's decision to support the french military action. we're providing intelligence and logistics support, and i look forward to advocating in congress for the financial resources needed to ensure that the appropriate steps are taken, both by the french and regional
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militaries. the u.n. security council has authorized this action, the malian president had requested help, and the concerning situation of the american hostages and other western hostages is just one bracing reminder, andrea, of how dangerous and how difficult the situation in mali is and how much of a risk they pose to security in the region. >> i know we only have a few seconds left, but i want to quickly ask you, you're traveling with john mccain and others in the delegation, are you advocating on behalf of chuck hagel as you're on the foreign relations committee going to be sitting in on those hearings? >> i very much look forward to having a chance to sit down with chuck hagel, senator hagel, in person and to have him answer some questions, some concerns that i have. and we've had some vigorous discussions amongst the senators on this trip. we have different views about senator hagel. one of the great things about having a chance to travel to places like egypt or mali as a congressional delegation is a chance to see what we have in
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common, what unites us. we're next going to visit u.s. troops, and i think one of the thing that unites us is ensuring our armed forces, those who work to keep us safe around the world, have the resources and support they deserve. >> i misspoke, because, of course, on the foreign relations committee you have john kerry coming up next, not john hagel who has his confirmation hearing for the 31st in front of armed services. thank you very much and safe travels. thanks for joining us today from cairo. and the white house consultant congress has on task force, congressman, thanks very much for being with us. i know you're a gun owner, avid hunter. how do you think the president's proposals balance the interests of hunters, owners, and other advocates and how political viable might they be? >> i think it was a great first step by the president. he outlined the steps that he
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can take unilaterally, and those are important, important to law enforcement and important to school safety, important to collecting data and doing scientific research, but it's very, very clear one branch of government can't do this by themselves. we're going to have to work with the white house, work with the senate, and we're going to have to put forward good legislation that protects our communities, protects our children, and also protects americans' second amendment rights. >> i don't know if you're aware that eric pratt from the gun owners was on earlier in the show. this is part of what he had to say. >> i think there's a big misreading of the political winds, and just like in 1994 with the congress, in 2000 with the presidency, i think there could be a real wake-up call politically, there could be a real backlash happening here. >> do you agree with him or do you think the nra and other gun advocates have overstepped the
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bounds, particularly with the web video, which addressed the president's children? >> i think he's correct. if the congress doesn't get it right, there will be a backlash, and getting it right means to protect the american people and make sure that criminals don't get guns, make sure that the mentally ill don't get guns, and make sure that we protect our second amendment rights. i don't believe for a moment that americans want us to continue to allow people to purchase firearms, people who are criminals to purchase firearms. the background check catches those people, it stops criminals from getting firearms. we should do that sort of thing. i personally believe that we need to take a look at the assault magazines. those are what makes it dangerous when somebody puts an assault magazine and a firearm and starts shooting 15, 20, 30 rounds before they have to reload. we've seen example after example where this is caused people to
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die, and we know for a fact that if those things were out of those guns, a lot more people would be alive today. >> and do you think the nra has overstepped its bounds? do you have any reaction to that web video? >> i believe that the nra is made up of mothers and fathers and sons and daughters. they want their kids to be safe. they want their communities to be safe. and i think there's common ground that we can work on to make sure we accomplish that. >> thank you very much, congressman. thanks for being with us today. coming up next, we'll talk to victims of gun violence, how they are responding. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. what are you doing? nothing. are you stealing our daughter's school supplies and taking them to work? no, i was just looking for my stapler and my... this thing. i save money by using fedex ground and buy my own supplies. that's a great idea. i'm going to go...
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my ex-girlfriend... 7th grade math teacher. who is this? that's pete. my... [ dennis' voice ] allstate agent. a "starving artist" has an allstate agent? he got me... [ dennis' voice ] the allstate value plan. it's their most affordable car insurance and you still get an agent. [ normal voice ] i call it... [ dennis' voice ] the protector. is that what you call it? the protector! okay. ♪ the allstate value plan. are you in good hands? of course, no one has a greater personal stake in what happens on gun violence than the victims and their families. joining me now are two people with a very personal stake, laurie haas, her daughter, emilie, was shot and injured at virginia tech.
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and at age 10, william watched his mother's ex-boyfriend shoot and kill his mother and brother. he shared that story last week with the vice president's task force on gun violence. thanks very much. laurie, first of all, you've gone to walmart and other retailers, you dropped a petition off at walmart. what's the response been from walmart about selling some of these weapons? >> well, frankly we haven't heard back from walmart yet. over 75 gun violence survivors from tucson, aurora, oak creek, virginia tech asked the leadership at walmart to take these weapons off their shelf, and i participated in a petition drop yesterday asking the store, all of their stores, to take these guns off their shelf. walmart is typically a community partner and a leader in communities, and we need them to partner with us to keep these violent weapons off the shelves and save communities from the gun violence that visited sandy hook, aurora, colorado, tucson,
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blacksburg, virginia. it's happening with too great a frequency. >> william killebrew, we those larry pratt who said that none of the proposals that the president made would have prevented what happened in sandy hook? >> thank you. first of all my heart goes out to the victims and survivors of new and victims and survivors across the country where the violence is playing out on the streets every day. what i have to say is i think folks like pratt who said that, they have taken this issue and concluded before the vice president made suggestions or the president made recommendations. they concluded that it wouldn't work last week. victims and survivors have hope in this situation here. we have hope for resolve and to take the hope away before it gets started is something that
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is not sensitive. reducing gun violence is very important in this. protecting our children shouldn't be a divicive issue. >> the statement from the sandiy hook promise organization and they point out in part that a solution won't just happen in washington. they say we encourage everyone, citizens and politicians to uphold and engage in the dialogue on all the issues involved. that's their purpose. you tried to make this work. how do you push it forward and get outside to have to start with action as the president took when he signed the 23 orders today? >> i think it's going to happen at both levels and in the halls of congress where i am today. i think it's going to happen in neighborhoods and in families and become home in america across communities. i'm aware of over 230 community
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committees having meetings on thursday night this week. that's 230 meetings in homes across america to talk about gun violence and what people at the local level can do. citizens are concerned. these are every day people being killed. our neighbors and friends and children. it's an epidemic and we have got to stop it and keep the community from gun violence. i know what it's like to get a call. my daughter called me the morning of april 16th and hello, mommy, i have been shot. can you imagine that phone call and the worst phone call, the one that calls you to a place to collect your child's? i can't and i don't want to go there. we can fix this problem and the president is going to provide us the leadership to do so. >> thank you both very much for sharing. we'll be right back. except it's 2% every year.
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>> that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." we will preview with mary madeline among others and the freshman congressman joining us. my colleague has a electric at what's next on "news nation." >> great to see you. we are following breaking news to the sweeping new gun proposals. republican senator marco rubio said nothing the president proposed would have prevented the sandy hook tragedy and claims he is abusing his power. john rosenthal is part of the stop hand gun violence movement and we will take you live to a gun shop in virginia to find out wa people are saying about the president's announcement today. we will have this interesting reaction. interesting perspective. breaking news regarding americans held hostage in algeria. we will have the latest on that story.
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